ROUGH WATERS
Midshipmen still atop Patriot League standings after ugly 47-45 victory against American
This one set the game of basketball back a century or more.
You could call it a rugged defensive battle, but that would not be entirely accurate. It was more the result of serious offensive struggles with sloppy ball-handling and miserable shooting hampering both sides.
Senior swingman John Carter Jr. delivered a strong all-around game with 14 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals as Navy men’s basketball squeaked past American, 47-45, on Saturday at Alumni Hall.
An announced crowd of 1,112 turned out to see the popular “Mascot Mayhem” promotion that featured the Oriole Bird and Bill the Goat leading opposing teams in a halftime show. The Midshipmen and Eagles fared about as well offensively as the Mascots, who only put the ball in the basket once during their 10-minute contest.
Navy made just 1 of 18 3-point attempts in shooting 32.7 % (18-for-55) from the field and also committed 15 turnovers. Fifthyear senior guard Stacy Beckton scored a game-high 19 points to lead American, which finished 15-for-39 (38.5%) from the field and coughed up 18 turnovers.
“Obviously, not a pretty one. Putting the ball in the hoop was tough for both sides,” Carter said. “But a win’s a win. We’re going to take it, learn from it and try to get better on the offensive end.”
It was the 98th meeting between American and Navy and only one previous game featured fewer points. That came in January 1993, when the Midshipmen defeated the Eagles, 39-24. This was just the fourth game in series history in which the two teams combined for fewer than 100 points.
“I thought we did a really good job of guarding American. Offensively, we were just really poor. We couldn’t make a shot and we turned the ball over way too much,” Navy coach Ed DeChellis said. “We found a way to win the game and that’s important.”
Junior forward Jaylen Walker
came off the bench to score nine points for Navy (14-7, 7-3), which is now tied atop the Patriot League standings with archrival Army (13-9, 7-3). Loyola Maryland (12-8, 6-3) could join the two service academies in first place by beating Bucknell on Sunday night.
“There’s not a lot of separation at the top. Everybody can beat everybody,” said DeChellis, noting there was a five-way tie for first place going into the weekend. “I think it’s going to be a tight race. It’s all about who can stay healthy and who gets hot.”
Starting point guard Greg Summers and backup forward Daniel Deaver chipped in six points apiece for the Midshipmen, who snapped a three-game losing streak at home. Navy will try to improve to 5-0 in road conference contests when it plays at Lehigh on Wednesday night.
“Honestly, we’re not really looking at the standings. We’re just going out and trying to win games,” Carter said. “We’re just trying to play our best basketball at the right time.”
Navy blew a 27-point lead and lost to archrival Army in overtime to cap the difficult stretch at Alumni Hall, which began with a blowout loss to Colgate.
“It’s not been the most pleasant thing coming into this arena the last three times and leaving with losses. We owe the home fans better than that,” Carter said. “We made a point after the Army game that we need to protect the home court.”
Carter was recognized during a pregame ceremony for surpassing 1,000 career points and was presented with a commemorative basketball by DeChellis and Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk. The 6-foot-4 wing guard then drained two jumpers and dished off an assist as the Mids took an early 6-0 lead.
That’s when it turned into a slugfest and neither team could get much done on the offensive end. American (6-14, 2-6) made just seven shots from the field and committed 11 turnovers in trailing 27-17 at halftime.
Walker converted a turnover into an easy layup as Navy equaled its largest lead of 12 points at the 16:23 mark of the second half. The Midshipmen would only manage to score seven points over the next 13-plus minutes, enabling the Eagles to gradually creep back into the game.
“We just couldn’t find much of a rhythm. They were switching everything, and we weren’t adapting too well during the game. We also missed a lot of open shots,” Carter said.
Beckton threw down a dunk to cut the deficit to one, 40-39, with just under four minutes remaining in the game. After a media timeout, Navy got two straight defensive stops and increased the lead to 44-39 on consecutive jumpers by Carter and Walker.
The Midshipmen were still ahead by four after Carter made two free throws with 15 seconds left, but Beckton made a 3-pointer just six seconds later. Junior forward Patrick Dorsey was fouled immediately after catching the inbounds pass and only made the front end of a one-and-one.
That gave the Eagles a chance to tie or win the game with eight seconds to go, but the visitors were unable to get off a shot before time expired.
“I don’t think we came out with the right mindset. We weren’t ready to play, essentially,” American coach Mike Brennan said. “Navy is very good defensively. They make you work for 40 minutes, but our offense was terrible.”